The four-time World Player of the Year has a contract with the Catalan giants until 2018, but Bartomeu said talks were on-going with the player’s father and principal agent Jorge Horacio Messi over a deal that would surpass the five-year contract Cristiano Ronaldo signed with Real Madrid in September last year.

There would be no better way for Wenger to mark his 1,000th game in charge of Arsenal than to ruin Mourinho’s unblemished home league record as Chelsea boss after the Portuguese dismissed him as a “specialist in failure” last month.

The Lankans have often flattered to deceive in limited-overs competitions on the international stage, with their talent taking them deep into tournaments only for an unexpectedly tepid and timid display to ultimately prove their undoing overall.

The loss on Sunday was United’s ninth of the Premier League campaign — five of which have come at home — and carried echoes of the 4-1 humiliation at Manchester City in September that foreshadowed the club’s current struggles.

Former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Monday lashed out at chief coach Duncan Fletcher and called for his immediate ouster while suggesting the name of Rahul Dravid as the next coach of the Indian cricket team.